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Preserving the Duck for the future

By ZOË WATKINS - zwatkins@t-g.com
Posted 3/4/23

Members from the Duck River Watershed Education Committee delivered reading material to third and fourth graders to help them learn more about conserving the Duck River. 

Fourth graders …

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Preserving the Duck for the future

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Members from the Duck River Watershed Education Committee delivered reading material to third and fourth graders to help them learn more about conserving the Duck River. 

Fourth graders across Bedford County received a book entitled “Discovering the Duck River,” while third graders received water cycle bookmarks.

These materials are part of an initiative by the Duck River Committee to educate students for the future, according to member Doug Murphy. 

“We drink water out of the Duck River, and that’s the most important thing. So, we need to teach people to take care of it and how valuable it is,” he said. 

Some 300,000 people depend on the Duck River watershed, which stretches through Humphreys, Hickman, Maury, Marshall, Bedford, and Coffee counties. The Normandy Reservoir, a 17-mile lake behind the dam, provides water for people in Manchester, Tullahoma, and areas around them.

Starting in the community of Hoo Doo in Coffee County, it is the only river in Tennessee that remains entirely within the state. It ends in Humphreys County where it meets the Tennessee River. 

Murphy said many people only see the Duck River as “muddy and green,” but in fact, it is one of the most biologically diverse rivers in the world. It has more than 650 freshwater species (more than any other inland river in North America), including varieties of fish, mussels, snails, crayfish, frogs and turtles, insects, and algae. 

“It’s a very unique river, which is why we need to take care of it,” he said. 

The nonprofit has been working with school systems for about 20 years. Around 1999, they started with river clean-up days and also put together Duck River Education Day. Fifth graders get to visit and explore the Duck River, which is something they still do today. 

Anyone interested in further supporting the Duck Rover can also order the River Life license plate to support conservation, preservation and educational initiatives. They can be ordered at https://business.shelbyville-bedford.com/river-life.

The deadline to register is June 1.